Financing Democracy

MONEY IN POLITICS

People’s faith in government is stagnating at record lows, with citizens questioning their trust in government leaders to make ethical and moral decisions. People increasingly feel that democracy is not working in their favour. A key reason for this is the perception that when it comes to politics, money talks.

POLICY CAPTURE RISKS

While there is not yet consensus on whether donations directly influence election outcomes, the possible existence of a causal link between campaign spending and performance in elections should be enough to put us on our guard.

Evidence suggests that policy capture has consequences on business competition in some countries, regions or sectors. In some countries swings in market shares of companies can reflect the changing preferences of the political leadership for well-connected businesses.

Financial contributions by lobbyists in the political process also present a threat to fair and democratic decision-making.

DEVELOPING A POLICY FRAMEWORK

This Framework aims to map a wide range of risk areas and to provide policy tools to adequately regulate the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns.

The framework will ensure transparency and promote a level playing field on:

public funding to parties and candidates;

private funding, spending limits, disclosure and scrutiny on funding;

compliance through independent and efficient oversight, sanctions, and monitoring

The Framework also focuses on the need to foster a wider culture of integrity in the public and private sectors, with codes of conduct, conflicts of interest rules, and a framework for lobbying and asset disclosure among others.